Two Butter Bars

Luke's brother, Si, graduated from the Air Force Academy on May 27th. Luke and I got to return to the Air Force Academy (a place close to our hearts) to celebrate Si's commissioning and graduation.

The Air Force Academy is the service academy for the Air Force (like West Point is the service academy for the Army). Those who are accepted to the Air Force Academy are commissioned officers in the Air Force when they graduate.

Si's commissioning took place the night before graduation in a glider hanger. So, after attending parades, receptions, and a fancy cocktail party we met Si's squadron in the glider hanger for their commissioning ceremony.
Luke was able to commission Si a second Lieutenant.

Si asked his parents to switch out his shoulder boards.





They were so proud.



It was such a wonderful night! We are all so proud of Si. He will make a wonderful officer in the Air Force!

Now there are two butter bars in the family!

P.S. Doesn't Luke look handsome in his uniform?

Thank you Bill Simmons!

This is our... um... little puppy Palin. After ONE week! She already weighs 17.5 pounds! We're getting a little nervous.

Palin has been up to quite a bit since she's been here. She's learned how to go up and down the stairs. She's pretty proud of herself, as you can see.

She tries to eat everything. We're getting use to pulling things out of her mouth (rocks, leaves, goose poop, etc.). I guess it's pretty good training for a human baby.

Luke is pulling a post-it note out of her mouth.

Luke finished school last week! Only two semesters left! Since he has so much free time these days, he picked up a book at the library for some light reading.

700 pages of basketball bliss. Thank you Bill Simmons!

Summer break (the last one we'll ever have), a puppy, and a book all about basketball... life is great!

And Puppy Makes Three!

This is our new puppy, Palin.

Palin is her name, yes, Palin. Like Sarah. But, don't read into it too much. Our dog isn't a political statement. We just like the name.

Palin is an old english sheepdog, so one day (in the not so distant future) she will probably look like this....

(This is a picture of Palin's Dad)

She is a sweet, playful, fun puppy! We already love having her around. I'm sure Palin will be on the blog a lot! Prepare yourself for puppy pictures and stories!

Happiness Is...

I'm not sure what to say... I guess I'll let the picture speak for me...

I don't understand Luke's love of Fantasy Basketball. But then, when things go well, he smiles like this...

and it makes me smile.

Two winning seasons. One shiny trophy sitting on our tv. One happy husband.

~Si, Brandon, and Shawn.... you know you're jealous!~

By the way, Luke didn't take a week off. He still hasn't missed a day.

Championship Game!

I know everyone has been waiting on pins and needles to find out how this year's all important Fantasy Basketball season ended up, so we won't hold you in suspense any longer!

This week Luke's team, the Stormin Mormons, played in the Championship! It was pretty intense... ALL WEEK! Last night, while Luke was out playing basketball, he got a call from his brother telling him he only needed one more block to win the championship! Luke rushed home (from real basketball to fantasy.... hmm) to find out the result of all of this year's hard work.

Looking up the scores.... is the anticipation killing you?

And....

VICTORY!

The final score was 6-5-1

Thanks to Pau Gasol, Luke has a Fantasy Basketball winning streak!

Luke said he will try to take a week off before he starts preparing for next season. Because.... it's important!

Happy Easter!

How does a young married couple living in Illinois celebrate Easter? They help the Easter Bunny with basket set up. Then, eat some of the candy he left with breakfast.

They color Easter eggs while listening to prophets and apostles bear testimony of a living Jesus Christ. They continue eating candy.

They share an amazing Easter Dinner (as well as stories, jokes and laughter) with good friends.

They talk to family and wish them a Happy Easter. They (well, really just she) continues eating candy. They study the scriptures. They know that He lives.

Happy Easter!

More St. Louis Fun!

Last weekend, Luke and I visited St. Louis. We traveled back to the city of fog and mist for two exciting reasons. 1) Old English Sheepdogs were gathering to walk in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. 2) Luke's brother Si was visiting St. Louis.

Luke and I are planning on getting a puppy in couple months. YAY! After doing a lot of research an Old English Sheepdog looked like the best fit for us (on paper). Easy going, great with families, docile, and funny (they're nicknamed the clown of the dog world) an old english sheepdog seems like the perfect dog. The only problem was that we had only ever seen pictures and read books and articles, we hadn't ever been around an old english sheepdog. So, when we found out a whole group of Sheepdogs would be in St. Louis to march in the parade Luke emailed the group and asked them if we could come meet them and play with their dogs. They were super excited and offered to take us out to drinks after the parade to talk about sheepdogs! We politely declined their offer for drinks but told them we were thrilled we could meet them before the parade.

I took a lot of pictures for my mom, who is almost as excited as me and my husband.

Here I am with Heart.

Heart, Harry, and Murphy all dressed up in green! They won't get pinched! (We both thought the outfits were a little extreme. Nobody would pinch such sweet dogs :)) That's me holding onto Harry's leash.


Luke with Charlie and Charlie's owner. Charlie was such a beautiful dog!

The Sheepies were so much fun! The people who let us play with their dogs were great too! They gave us a lot of good advice. Now we are even more excited about getting our puppy!

The day got even better when we met Luke's brother Si for dinner! Si caught us up on what is happening at USAFA, what his plans are after graduation (which happens in 2 and a half months!) and (of course) the all important fantasy basketball latest.

I just noticed I only have one good picture from our dinner with Si. Awkward.... it may look like the dogs win this blog entry but we really were excited to see you Si : ) Living in the Midwest can get lonely sometimes so visits from family are very special.

St. Louis is growing on us!